All posts by Tara Newsom

SPC Earns Voter-Friendly Campus Designation

Civic Education, Featured

The Center for Civic Learning and Community Engagement is proud to announce that St. Petersburg College has earned the Voter-Friendly Campus Designation for 2023-2024.

The Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators program “NASPA LEAD” Initiative partnered to establish the Voter-Friendly Campus program.

The Voter Friendly Campus program’s goal is to help institutions develop democratic engagement action plans that coordinate administrators, faculty, and student organizations in civic and electoral engagement.

This designation is awarded to institutions that continued their efforts, even during a non-national election year, to break down barriers and empower students with the information and tools they need to participate in the political process.

This work undoubtedly played a part in the tremendous youth voter turnout in the 2022 elections and opened the door to lifelong civic engagement for their students.

Campuses were evaluated on their ability to complete a multi-step process, which included engaging a coalition of campus members from staff, faculty, students, community organizations, and local election officials to develop a written plan for how the institution would engage student voters in 2022, facilitating voter education and engagement efforts on campus, and writing a final analysis of their efforts reflecting on what worked and what to change going forward.

The institutions designated 2023 Voter-Friendly Campuses include a wide range of two-year, four-year, public, private, rural, and urban campuses that collectively serve over 3.5 million students.

Notable statistics of this cohort include:

  • 71 institutions joining the program for the first time
  • 49 Minority Serving Institutions
  • 13 Historically Black Colleges and Universities
  • 41 Community Colleges

To learn more about how you can get involved in non-partisan voter engagement, please contact the Center for Civic Learning and Community Engagement by emailing Tara Newsom at newsom.tara@spcollege.edu.

Looking for Love, Unity and Enlightenment? Become a Motherland Music Festival Volunteer!

Civic Education, Featured

Join the Motherland Music Festival Movement!

On Saturday, April 22, 2023, from 4-8 p.m., the Motherland Music Festival will transform Williams Park in Downtown Saint Petersburg into an immersive village where ALL are welcome to share in the spirit of LOVE, UNITY and ENLIGHTENMENT.

For information on the Motherland Music Festival, tickets or sponsorships, please check out the website.

We are seeking volunteers, 18 years old and up, to assist with the logistics on the day of the event. Anyone interested in helping out can apply via this form.

Please do not give any information, submit any other application, or pay any fees to anyone outside of our organization. If you receive any communications about this event that do not come from ancestralfunk@gmail.com or medinakaragic@gmail.com, please notify us. You will be contacted via email if you are accepted as a volunteer.

Honoring Women’s History Month

Civic Education

Join The Center for Civic Learning in honoring Women’s History Month with an all-college education outreach & donation initiative to support CASA Pinellas.

Each campus Student Life & Leadership office will receive donation bags for staff, faculty and students to pick up and fill with new items to be donated to CASA (see donation list here and in the bags). Please return bags to SLL at your campus by the end of March for pick up and donation to CASA. Feel free to pick up enough bags for your students.

Each bag contains information about notable women in history, historical women in STEM and a donation list for women in need at CASA.

CASA Pinellas is an organization who works with the community to build a network of support for domestic abuse survivors, children, and their pets. There is also an AMAZON wish list if you wish to donate directly.

You can learn more about Women’s History Month here:
https://womenshistorymonth.gov/

For more information about notable women in history:
https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history

To learn more about women in STEM, please click here:
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/women-in-stem

To learn about the evolution of women’s rights in America, click here:
https://nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org/resources/womens-rights-movement/detailed-timeline/

SPC’s Library & Resource Centers have developed the 2023 LibGuide for Women’s History Month found here:
https://spcollege.libguides.com/womenshistory/home

For more information, please contact Tara Newsom at newsom.tara@spcollege.edu

The Good Life Series: Serving Others

Civic Education

Join St. Petersburg College’s Applied Ethics Institute for The Good Life Series discussion, Serving Others. The institute will ask the important question, “How does serving others contribute to the good life?”

Join Dr. James Menkhaus, a celebrated author and educator, and Dr. Tara Newsom, Director of SPC Center for Civic Learning & Community Engagement, as they tackle this question.

Tuesday, February 28 at 6:30 p.m. at SPC’s Clearwater campus, ES-104 or via Zoom.

For more information, please email Dr. Eric Abercrombie at Abercrombie.Eric@SPCollege.edu.

Book talk: Where Have All the Mangoes Gone?

Civic Education

Remembering St. Petersburg’s Historic Gas Plant District

“Where Have All the Mangoes Gone?” is the title of Sarah-Jane Vatelot’s book, which shares the history of people of color in St Petersburg’s Historic Gas Plant District from a community and urban planning perspective.

Vatelot, an author and architect, will share her book on Thursday February 16 at 11 a.m. at the Downtown Student Lounge and online.

Sarah-Jane Vatelot has been working in the field of architecture since 2007, passing through structural engineering and interior design firms onto tackling larger high-profile architectural projects in the Tampa Bay Area. She has a passion for architecture and its ability to participate in and positively affect social change. She received her Bachelor of Design in Architecture from the University of Florida in 2007 and her Master’s in Architecture from the University of South Florida’s School of Architecture and Community Design in 2019. Her Master’s Thesis “Where have all the Mangoes Gone? Reactivating the Tropicana Field site – on the Threshold of St Petersburg’s History, Culture and Memory.” was published in 2019 and has contributed to the shift in the public discourse surrounding the redevelopment of the former Gas Plant Neighborhood. Sarah-Jane was subsequently invited to join the Sugar Hill Community Partners Development Team in drafting a proposal for the 86 acres of land in the heart of St Petersburg.

For more information about attending the event or joining the live stream, please contact Dr. Tara Newsom at newsom.tara@spcollege.edu

SPC celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Day as a Month of Service!

Image for MLK Day of Service 2020
Campus Events, Civic Education, Service Learning, Volunteerism

SPC is excited to celebrate our annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Days of Service: United We Stand.  At St. Petersburg College, we again will be honoring Dr. King’s legacy as part of the National Day of Service by participating in volunteer opportunities throughout the county during the month of January.  

The Center for Civic Learning & Community Engagement (CCLCE) would like to encourage all SPC faculty, students, and staff to be involved in the SPC Month of Service in support of the MLK Days of Service.  In 2023, the MLK Day of Service is an urgent opportunity for thousands all over the country, to come together to serve their communities.  Indeed, volunteers in Pinellas County can look for ways to help organizations complete home improvement for the elderly, collect food and clothing to those in need, refurbish community centers,  provide mentors and more.  

As part of this national movement, let us continue SPC’s leadership role in community service as a shining example for others throughout the county.    

Volunteer opportunity

The Center for Civic Learning & Community Engagement, the Downtown & Midtown Centers’ Brother to Brother and Women on the Way programs, along with Phi Theta Kappa, Eta Nu chapter, are honoring Dr. King this FRIDAY, JANUARY 13 from 11-12:30 p.m. at Mycroschool, 2220 62nd Avenue S, St. Petersburg. There, volunteers can engage in a STEM classroom program and share SPC Careers and Academic programs, offer application support and financial aid information. Mycroschool is a drop-out recovery charter school that helps students get back on track to graduate high school. Student leaders, staff and faculty will be there to support Myscroschool.

Other ways to get involved

If you are familiar with other organizations in your community with volunteer opportunities available, you may commit to days of service with the organization of your choice, throughout the county during the month of January. Use this search tool to find a volunteer opportunity in your area of Pinellas County.

Please be sure to report your volunteer hours by using the Center for Civic Learning & Community Engagement’s survey measurement tool, which can be found here on our website.

Faculty, please spread the word

To help promote student involvement, faculty are encouraged to take a few moments in class to announce the month of service opportunities. Your participation, help and support are greatly appreciated as we look forward to showing the strength of our commitment to the community and to this important month of service. Let’s add to the progress being made in making SPC an exemplary institution for improving student success and being a beacon for community engagement.

Many thanks in advance for your commitment to students and for your help and support with the MLK Month of Service: United We Stand!  If you have general questions, contact Tara Newsom at 398-8470.

Love Music? Love Volunteering? You’ll dig the Clearwater Jazz Holiday

Civic Education

Volunteers are needed for the 43rd Annual Clearwater Jazz Holiday, October 14 – 16 at BayCare Ballpark.

This year, like years past, there is a great lineup and many of the volunteer shifts provide volunteers with the opportunity to hear the music for free!

To volunteer, visit this site, scroll down to the green “Volunteer Sign Up is Open” button, sign in (or create a new account, if you do not have one from previous years) and select the area/shifts/times for which you would like to volunteer.

Don’t forget to submit your volunteer hours through Titan Connect!

FRIDAY, OCT 14 LINEUP

5:00 PM – Gates Open

5:30 PM – 7:00 PM: THE WAR AND TREATY – WEBSITE

7:30 PM – 9:00 PM: AVERAGE WHITE BAND – WEBSITE

9:30 PM – 11:00 PM: TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE – WEBSITE

SATURDAY, OCT 15 LINEUP

5:00 PM – GATES OPEN

5:30 PM – 6:45 PM: JUSTIN-LEE SCHULTZ – WEBSITE

7:15 PM – 8:45 PM: DUMPSTAPHUNK – WEBSITE

9:15 PM – 10:45 PM: CHARLIE WILSON – WEBSITE

10:45 PM – FIREWORKS

SUNDAY, OCT 16 LINEUP

3:00 PM – GATES OPEN

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM: THE CHAMP JAXON BAND – WEBSITE

4:45 PM – 6:00 PM: ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES – WEBSITE

6:30 PM – 8:00 PM: OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW – WEBSITE

8:30 PM – 10:00 PM: GOV’T MULE – WEBSITE

Have additional questions about volunteering?
Please email volunteer@clearwaterjazz.com.

Looking for additional information regarding Clearwater Jazz Holiday? Visit https://www.clearwaterjazz.com/.

Dunedin Causeway Cleanup!

Civic Education

Join Keep Pinellas Beautiful and SPC during the International Coastal Cleanup as we work to clean up the Dunedin Causeway!

Date and time

Fri, October 21, 2022, 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT

Location

Dunedin Causeway 61 Causeway Boulevard Dunedin, FL 34698

For more information please contact Dr. Kelli Stickrath at: stickrath.kelli@spcollege.edu